Two recent papers published on the International Journal of Maritime History describes the structure of the database and how it works :
“Navigocorpus, a database for shipping information. A methodological and technical introduction”, by Jean-Pierre Dedieu, Silvia Marzagalli, Pierrick Pourchasse et Werner Scheltjens, International Journal of Maritime History, XXIII:2, december 2011, p. 241-262.
Navigocorpus at Work. A Brief Overview of the Potentialities of a Database », par Jean-Pierre Dedieu, Silvia Marzagalli, Pierrick Pourchasse et Werner Scheltjens, International Journal of Maritime History, XXIV:1, juin 2012, p. 331-359.